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Driving abroad? Get your new UK sticker to be legal

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead

GB country identifiers will need to be changed to UK ones from September 28th
https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/gb-car-sticker-to-be-replaced-by-new-uk-version/

Also in that link UK and Union Jack on number plate edge becomes legal saving the need for a UK oval sticker separate to the reg plate.
The pre-brexit edge of plate GB and EU stars is no longer legal.


Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Mon 30-08-21 12:26; edited 1 time in total
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boredsurfin wrote:
GB country identifiers will need to be changed to UK ones from September 28th
https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/gb-car-sticker-to-be-replaced-by-new-uk-version/

Also in that link UK and Union Jack on number plate edge becomes legal saving the need for a UK oval sticker separate to the reg plate.
The pre-brexit edge of plate GB and EU stars is no longer legal.


Just to clarify, having the pre-brexit edge of plate GB and EU stars is not illegal to have on your car (i.e you don't need to change the number plate), it's just that to be legal if you have the pre-brexit plates then you need to add a UK sticker (as from September 28th).
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Talk about bureaucracy gone mad.... I wonder where they think GB is? rolling eyes
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Had a look for this on Gov.uk and can't find any reference to it.
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Bergmeister wrote:
Talk about bureaucracy gone mad.... I wonder where they think GB is? rolling eyes


Who do you mean by "they". It's our nutters (Er... I mean government...) who've decided on the change from GB to UK and Brexit that makes the euro stars void.

I was in France the night the vote result was announced and by morning some (Dutch) wag had been around the campsite crossing off one star on all the plates Toofy Grin
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@Chris_n, here I think

https://www.gov.uk/displaying-number-plates/flags-symbols-and-identifiers?step-by-step-nav=51d1433e-893f-4424-8408-8427c1b6aba1
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Says you can have either, no mention of changing.

Flags, symbols and identifiers

You can display one of the following flags with identifying letters on the left-hand side of the number plate:

Union flag (also known as the Union Jack)
Cross of St GeorgeCross of St Andrew - also known as the Saltire
Red Dragon of Wales

The letters, or national identifiers, you can have are:

GREAT BRITAIN, Great Britain or GB
UNITED KINGDOM, United Kingdom or UK
CYMRU, Cymru, CYM or Cym
ENGLAND, England, ENG, Eng
SCOTLAND, Scotland, SCO or Sco
WALES or Wales

The flag must be above the identifier. You cannot have the flag or letters on the number plate margin, and neither can be more than 50 millimetres wide.



Travelling in Europe

If your number plate includes the GB identifier with the Union flag (also known as the Union Jack), you do not need a GB sticker. But you will need to display a GB sticker clearly on the rear of your vehicle if your number plate has any of the following:

a Euro symbo
la national flag of England, Scotland or Wales
numbers and letters only - no flag or identifier

If you’re in Spain, Cyprus or Malta, you must display a GB sticker no matter what is on your number plate.
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adithorp wrote:
Bergmeister wrote:
Talk about bureaucracy gone mad.... I wonder where they think GB is? rolling eyes


Who do you mean by "they". It's our nutters (Er... I mean government...) who've decided on the change from GB to UK and Brexit that makes the euro stars void.


I mean the lawmaking idiots who can't accept GB stickers as legit...
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They will update the gov website on the relevant dates for the new rules. September 1 for new number plate materials (BSAU 145e, no 3d letters anymore} and September 28 for new identifiers {only UK plus Union Flag if you want to drive abroad without any further stickers). These changes have been fairly well publicised for some time...
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Bergmeister wrote:
I mean the lawmaking idiots who can't accept GB stickers as legit...

It was the UK government's decision to change our national identifier with the United Nations from GB to UK. The number plate change is a consequence of that as it has to match the UN identifier to be recognised worldwide. The decision was taken to make it more obvious to M Macron that Northern Ireland is part of the UK...
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@Raceplate, precisely. Any inconvenience brought about by this change from the GB national identifier to UK is entirely down to our Government, having formally notified the UN of the change other nations are obliged to only recognise the designated UK symbol as being legit from September 28th. So the "lawmaker idiots" who Bergmeister refers to reside entirely at Westminster/Whitehall.... rolling eyes
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After 28.9.2021, you have three options

1. Get a (UK) sticker in addition to your existing number plate or
2. Get a new |UK| number plate or
3. Get a new |UK| covering sticker:

1) Whatever format of number plate you already have, if you get a separate (UK) sticker for the back you are covered everywhere:

I got mine online for about £3 including postage. As long as this is on the car, then you're good to drive anywhere in Europe on a DVLA-valid UK number plate. The format for a sticker is internationally agreed (The Vienna Convention 1968 Annex #64) and the only valid one is the large 215x175mm oval black-roman-capitals-on-white background:



So no dinky small-white-on-blue types etc. As long as the car has the standard DVLA approved plates, you can have all the familiar variations - a plain plate with just the reg. no.; the old GB+EU stars; the unofficial CYM and dragon; etc. - provided you have a white-on-black oval (UK) sticker attached as well.

2) Alternatively, you can replace the number plate with a new one which has the stripe carrying the 'UK' rubric:





With the graphic (e.g. a union jack) being optional. Note that for Spain and Switzerland you still need a separate [UK] sticker.

3) Or you can get stick-on replacements that go over the previous stripe and has 'UK' or 'UK' and a graphic.

For more details see the thread on The New Post-Brexit Number Plate Format.

I switched back to my plain (i.e. no stripe and no country code on the left side) number plates the car originally came with and have just attached the standard GB (soon to be [UK]) magnetic sticker on the back for our current trip.

[The examples are downloaded from the Plates for Cars online plate designer, which lets you play around with all the different combinations that are available. There are loads of other online suppliers.]

And just let's be clear on who is responsible for this - Grant Schapps. He is the Minister who has asked the UN to change the country designation code from GB to UK. Apparently as his part in responding to Northern Ireland's concerns over the various recent post-Brexit issues around the NI Agreement and the consequences of agreeing to a border in the Irish Sea. The Minister is keeping a low profile over this completely unnecessary, unwelcome and bizarre initiative. The best he's managed is to get the Tory Tabloids all frumious over what they characterise as a vindictive EU reprisal to subvert the Great in Great Britain. Even 'though it's actually a UN arrangement. Initiated by a Tory Minister. It is quite disturbing to think that a Minister genuinely believes that a significant answer to the the complexities of the NI Agreement under new border arrangements arising from EU withdrawal lies in something as simple as a change to number plate formats.
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Or maybe Grant Schapps is just correcting something that was always illogical in the first place?

You have a Union Flag that represents GB + Northern Ireland and a passport that has "issued by United Kingdom" written on it but you drive around with a Union Flag and a GB abbreviation and a passport country code of GBR, none of which match. There is no such thing as a GB flag so you can't display one of those and the ISO country code of GBR actually stands for UK which is GB + NI even though it looks like GB only and to a layman (or a Eurocrat), probably is GB only.

I'd wager that even in the UK, if you did a street survey and asked people what GBR stands for on a passport, 90% of the public would say Great Britain, not United Kingdom. It's hardly surprising that Brussels can't get their heads round it.

So before you start whinging about the current Tory government, maybe you should check the history and ask why Attlee's Labour government ratified GB instead of UK as the identifier for the UK in the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic or why Wilson's Labour government failed to correct it from GB to UK in the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic?
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Raceplate wrote:
It's hardly surprising that Brussels can't get their heads round it.
Perhaps I'm misinterpreting the comment, but what has this got to do with Brussels? The protocol of country codes is exclusively a UN thing. And the only person asking them to change it is Grant Schapps. And the only reason he did it was to moderate complaints from N. Ireland that the Tories are discarding their commitments to the DUP and the the Good Friday Agreement and making trade across the new border more expensive.

But it turned out to be such an irrelevant and expensive exercise, and generated such vociferous complaints from his own MPs that the only excuse the Government could come up with was - as ever - to blame the EU and the Minister's own subordinates. The Tory press parrots that propaganda, plus the usual irrelevant 'whataboutism': in this case, that 'GB' was originally chosen by a Labour Government - 70 years ago.
Raceplate wrote:
Or maybe Grant Schapps is just correcting something that was always illogical in the first place?
So will the rubric on the passport be changed to 'UK' from 'GBR'? I doubt it, because the corresponding Minister is too savvy - she knows it'd be a pointless change that would generate further explosions of outrage ('whingeing'?) from her own MPs and do nothing to help the issues around the Ireland customs border.

It was just an ill-thought-out political manoeuvre that blew up in Schapps face. But enough people were upset that he needs someone else to blame. Cue the EU and his own staff (i.e. 'bureaucrats') as the fall-guys.


Last edited by You know it makes sense. on Fri 10-09-21 15:39; edited 14 times in total
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I see they updated the Gov.uk site yesterday to say this is imminent.
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 Poster: A snowHead
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Got my plates yesterday, have to say motor factors were unaware & took over a week to make them up
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Quote:
So before you start whinging about the current Tory government, maybe you should check the history and ask why Attlee's Labour government ratified GB instead of UK as the identifier for the UK in the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic or why Wilson's Labour government failed to correct it from GB to UK in the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic?

Were the above Labour manifesto committments that were then just totally disregarded by the relevant PM ? wink
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Raceplate wrote:
Bergmeister wrote:
I mean the lawmaking idiots who can't accept GB stickers as legit...

It was the UK government's decision to change our national identifier with the United Nations from GB to UK. The number plate change is a consequence of that as it has to match the UN identifier to be recognised worldwide. The decision was taken to make it more obvious to M Macron that Northern Ireland is part of the UK...

Technically, it also has to be ratified before being internationally officially recognised. At the moment it is only a U.K. government decision to inform the U.N. of it's proposal. So I would think that 'GB' is still recognised by authorities internationally.
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In monotonous detail:

https://www.gov.uk/displaying-number-plates/flags-symbols-and-identifiers
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davidthornton wrote:
Raceplate wrote:
Bergmeister wrote:
I mean the lawmaking idiots who can't accept GB stickers as legit...

It was the UK government's decision to change our national identifier with the United Nations from GB to UK. The number plate change is a consequence of that as it has to match the UN identifier to be recognised worldwide. The decision was taken to make it more obvious to M Macron that Northern Ireland is part of the UK...

Technically, it also has to be ratified before being internationally officially recognised. At the moment it is only a U.K. government decision to inform the U.N. of it's proposal. So I would think that 'GB' is still recognised by authorities internationally.


Not from the 28th of September according to this..

https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/CN/2021/CN.207.2021-Eng.pdf
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Tomorrows the day...
Quote:
On or after 28 September 2021
You will need to display a UK sticker clearly on the rear of your vehicle if your number plate has any of the following:

a GB identifier with the Union flag (also known as the Union Jack)
a Euro symbol
a national flag of England, Scotland or Wales
numbers and letters only - no flag or identifier
If your number plate includes the UK identifier with the Union flag (also known as the Union Jack), you do not need a UK sticker.

If you’re in Spain, Cyprus or Malta, you must display a UK sticker no matter what is on your number plate.

If you have a GB sticker, cover or remove it.
https://www.gov.uk/displaying-number-plates/flags-symbols-and-identifiers
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I know I`m wrong, but I`ve only ever had a number plate with SCO on the flag section, and the blue and white flag

I`ve just returned, and again, never an issue. This again may be wrong, but if I got stopped and asked where`s my sticker, Id quite simply say, I didn`t believe in leaving the EU, and I`m proud to maintain the flag in support of the EU.

If he asks me to put on my sticker, then currently I`ve got a GB one in the glove compartment, but I cant ever seeing it being an issue. Again, I may be wrong, but thats the stance I`m taking. My little finger up to the buffoon.
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jafa wrote:
I know I`m wrong, but I`ve only ever had a number plate with SCO on the flag section, and the blue and white flag

I`ve just returned, and again, never an issue. This again may be wrong, but if I got stopped and asked where`s my sticker, Id quite simply say, I didn`t believe in leaving the EU, and I`m proud to maintain the flag in support of the EU.

If he asks me to put on my sticker, then currently I`ve got a GB one in the glove compartment, but I cant ever seeing it being an issue. Again, I may be wrong, but thats the stance I`m taking. My little finger up to the buffoon.



I assume it’s not an mot fail? I know some people have “show plates” that have all sorts of stuff on them and use them on the road, so I guess in the UK you would be unlikely to be stopped.
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jafa wrote:
I know I`m wrong, but I`ve only ever had a number plate with SCO on the flag section, and the blue and white flag

I`ve just returned, and again, never an issue. This again may be wrong, but if I got stopped and asked where`s my sticker, Id quite simply say, I didn`t believe in leaving the EU, and I`m proud to maintain the flag in support of the EU.

If he asks me to put on my sticker, then currently I`ve got a GB one in the glove compartment, but I cant ever seeing it being an issue. Again, I may be wrong, but thats the stance I`m taking. My little finger up to the buffoon.



I assume it’s an mot fail?
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Why would it fail an MOT? The inspection is checking that the vehicle is roadworthy and complies with driving in the UK. Equally, the next vehicle inspected may not have anything on his/her number plate. That also wouldn`t fail
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I bought stickers from the Amazon for under 2 quid to replace the GB on the left hand side of the number plate with UK and Union Jack.
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I crossed Europe many times by car for years in the 70's and 80's without a 'GB' sticker, back then there were border halts. Never stopped or mentioned by any official.
Do they ever check on headlight conversions? Don't think so.
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davidthornton wrote:
I crossed Europe many times by car for years in the 70's and 80's without a 'GB' sticker, back then there were border halts. Never stopped or mentioned by any official.
Do they ever check on headlight conversions? Don't think so.


Ah but we had not just scuppered a submarine deal then... Embarassed
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@harrim51, Smile
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harrim51 wrote:
jafa wrote:
I know I`m wrong, but I`ve only ever had a number plate with SCO on the flag section, and the blue and white flag

I`ve just returned, and again, never an issue. This again may be wrong, but if I got stopped and asked where`s my sticker, Id quite simply say, I didn`t believe in leaving the EU, and I`m proud to maintain the flag in support of the EU.

If he asks me to put on my sticker, then currently I`ve got a GB one in the glove compartment, but I cant ever seeing it being an issue. Again, I may be wrong, but thats the stance I`m taking. My little finger up to the buffoon.



I assume it’s an mot fail?


Provided there's nothing else 'funky' about it (cracked/unreadable, non-standard dimensions, incorrect font, incorrect character sizing/spacing, etc) then it wouldn't be an MOT fail as only those areas are covered by the test. It just means you need to display the appropreate national sticker separatly. Even if you don't it's unlikely to cause you any issues with local law enforcement overseas - though have a road traffic accident outside the UK without a (now) "UK" display and you give an inch for the insurance companies to potentially try to worm out of things with.

The only reason EU member states were encouraged (not forced, just encouraged you note) to use the standard EU plate was to save EU citizens the cost of buying a separate sticker every time they changed car, and to make it easier/cheaper for national goverments to implement automatic number plate recognition systems as there's less variation to programme them for.
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harrim51 wrote:
I know some people have “show plates” that have all sorts of stuff on them and use them on the road.


Apologies for the drift but I’ve wondered about this for ages. There are loads of cars on the road with plates which clearly don’t meet the ‘normal’ format (fonts, spacing, screw heads used to alter letters, etc). While I’m not surprised the cops don’t stop them - they don’t seem bothered by much these days - I wonder how those cars get through the MOT.
So, do these people have ‘proper’ plates just for the MOT?

PS. I thought the preparation of number plates was restricted to authorised outlets specifically to avoid the ‘non-conforming plates’ issue. Is that not the case?
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I thought UK was for Ukraine
What are they going to use?
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@DrLawn, UA
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@holidayloverxx, Smile
It just does not feel right to me.
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GB also had the advantage that the initials work in most European languages - Großbritannien, Grand Bretagne, Groot Britannie etc etc. whereas 'UK' is an English-only acronym, it doesn't work with Royaume Unie, Verenigd Koninkrijk etc. But why would we care about that?
Apologies if this has already been asked, but is the ISO currency code (GBP) also up for grabs?
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@caughtanedge, I assure you UK does work fine in most european countries. Jesus christ if we could just agree on one it would save me so much time on a drop down list-is it Great Britain, Britain or United Kingdom or even England. Of the 3 British cars I saw on Swiss motorways this weekend, one had a UK sticker and 2 had nothing.
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@Red Leon,
Quote:

Apologies for the drift but I’ve wondered about this for ages. There are loads of cars on the road with plates which clearly don’t meet the ‘normal’ format (fonts, spacing, screw heads used to alter letters, etc). While I’m not surprised the cops don’t stop them - they don’t seem bothered by much these days - I wonder how those cars get through the MOT.
So, do these people have ‘proper’ plates just for the MOT?

PS. I thought the preparation of number plates was restricted to authorised outlets specifically to avoid the ‘non-conforming plates’ issue. Is that not the case?


this is one of the things that drives me mad, irrationally so for some reason.

like you, i assume these cockwombles (generally willy waving males!!!) who drive around with these "false" plates change them for the MOT, and change them back as soon as they have left the test centre.

i was under the impression that without the correct format, speed cameras etc could not detect the plate, so no enforcement can take place, but i may be wrong?

i am not really keen on any private plates to be honest, but if someone wants to give the DVLA extra money, its their choice.

there must be some sort of disclaimer from the retailers who supply them that they are not to be used on public highways?

a few years ago i had to get a new number plate, for the bike rack attached to the tow bar, i had to provide the vehicle registration certificate.

if i was a traffic copper i would spend my whole shift nicking these numpties Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad
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terrygasson wrote:
i was under the impression that without the correct format, speed cameras etc could not detect the plate, so no enforcement can take place, but i may be wrong?


That's what a number of people who have them, especially the 'smoked' ones belive. Complete BS of course, the cameras can read 99% of them perfectly well - and for the other 1% while they might not be able to OCR the image into letters they will create a consistant hash of the image so be able to link images from different cameras to the same plate and just ping it to the desk of a human being who will read it instead.

terrygasson wrote:
if i was a traffic copper i would spend my whole shift nicking these numpties Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad


Why, do you like doing loads of paperwork that will generally result in an advisory to change the plate or maybe result in a fine of upto £1,000? Or 3% of the cost of the average new car so more of an annoyance than a deterrant to most people who are minded to fit them.

And I'm sure your boss would be wanting to know why you'd been 'dicking around' during your shift and not actually engaged in your assigned policing duties.
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Forgetting the legality for a moment.... why does anyone need a country sticker... as in what practical purpose does it serve?
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@Layne, In France it tells the Gendarmerie that once they have pulled you over for speeding they can then start adding all the other missing bits and their fines - Hi Viz, Spare Light Bulbs, spare reading glasses, headlight beam deflectors etc etc, that then makes it worth their time driving you to the nearest cashpoint to pay the totted up fine! Happened to my BiL a few years back, at the last Toll before Calais.
The one French registered car pulled over appeared to be given a good talking to and then let go...
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